Tied to Rubio and Obama, consultant who lost job amid Miami ballot-fraud case is consummate insider

Fired from one campaign and chastised by another, veteran Miami political consultant Al Lorenzo finds himself in a position where no political operative wants to be: in the news.

Lorenzo, 60, lost his lucrative post in Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s reelection campaign Monday for failing to disclose that one of his subcontractors has a lengthy criminal record. Lorenzo remains on Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle’s reelection payroll, but she asked him to keep the subcontractor and career felon, Gerardo Judas “Jerry” Ramos, away from her race.

The moves capped a tumultuous week in local politics, following an investigation into absentee-ballot fraud in Hialeah.

The probe rippled across the county, with chatter that Lorenzo was somehow linked to Deisy Cabrera, a suspected Hialeah ballot broker, and that he had created a potential conflict of interest for Fernández Rundle. She recused herself from the case after Cabrera was arrested last week, citing unconfirmed reports that linked her campaign to Cabrera.

Lorenzo has flatly denied any connection to Cabrera, and Fernández Rundle has not clarified which person working on her campaign was allegedly seen with Cabrera.

“There’s an old saying that any press is good press,” said Screven Watson, a consultant for former Democratic candidates Rod Smith and Dave Aronberg. “That’s true — unless it’s about a staff person or campaign consultant ... Most consultants understand that and take themselves out.”

Lorenzo is not just any consultant.

A mainstay of Miami-Dade politics, he has earned about $5 million in fees from 148 campaigns since 2000. A registered Democrat and lobbyist, he has also worked for top Republicans like former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, while also pulling in $50,000 from the state Democratic Party in 2008 to help President Obama get out the vote. His firm, Quantum Results, earned nearly $1 million from back-to-back efforts to persuade county voters to approve Las Vegas-style slot machines.